China Mobile to Offer Free NFC SIM Card Upgrades
Sohu IT, 4/09/13
China Everbright Bank and China Mobile's (NYSE: CHL; 0941.HK) e-commerce subsidiary signed a strategic partnership agreement on April 8 for the operator's mobile wallet service. You Feng, GM of China Mobile's e-commerce operations division, revealed that the operator will begin offering free SIM card upgrades in its service centers beginning in mid-April. China Mobile subscribers will be able to exchange their current SIM cards for SIM cards supporting mobile payments — though "swipe to pay" functionality will also require an NFC-compatible handset. China Mobile will begin offering payment functionality through three handsets from HTC and Samsung in April, and will expand the feature to cover several dozen mobile handsets by the end of 2013, with the goal of selling more than 10 mln NFC-enabled handsets by year's end. The iPhone's lack of NFC functionality means that the handset will not be supported. In addition to China Everbright, China Merchants Bank, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, CITIC, and the Bank of China have signed on for China Mobile's mobile wallet service.
Users of the mobile wallet service will be able to "swipe" compatible mobile handsets over POS terminals with the China UnionPay "Quick Pass" logo to pay for items. More than 1 mln Quick Pass-compatible terminals have been set up around China to date. In May 2013, the "One Card" ("Yikatong") passes used for Beijing public transit will be added to the mobile wallet app ecosystem, allowing users of the service to pay for tickets on Beijing public transit by "swiping" their mobile handsets.
Editor's Note: For more background on this topic, please see "China UnionPay, China Mobile Complete Platform Integration" MD 2/22/13 issue.
Keywords: mobile payment You Feng China Mobile wireless mobile wallet Everbright Bank CHL SIM card 0941.HK Near Field Communication contactless payment
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